Archive for May, 2008

This is actually a long due post. And we are talking about AR Rahman & Sachin Tendulkar.

The former has given one of his best albums this year in Jodha-Akabar. And with that confirmed my belief that he is the best composer Indian film industry ever had. Till now it was impossible to think that anybody else will take RD Burman’s place (imo). The fact that ARR has never (except may be just a couple of songs in his early days) copied anybody else’s work has given him an edge in my coming to this conclusion.

And there was SRT again, on perhaps his last tour down under, producing those two gems in the finals. Thank you for making it worth staying awake till early morning.
And then there is Abhijit Sawant who was the most deserving candidate to be the first Indian Idol then, and if he keeps on singing like this perhaps also will be the ‘super-star’. I never thought anybody will better Rahman when singing what is arguably his best composition ever and perhaps the composition I ever heard (and yes listening to it does make you feel you are near to the God). He isn’t the Maestro yet but not far away.

When I switched to Nikon in 2006 the first lens I tried was 85mm/1.8D, a classic portrait lens borrowed from Udo. I was in love with the lens and wanted to buy it. And I was using some fine medium format lenses before that (I still do). I recently bought 85mm, and can only recommend it. My current favorite set is 24mm (for street), 50mm+85mm for portrait sessions. Next in the list of ‘want to buy’ are 35mm/2.0 and 24mm/3.5 PCE (For this one I really have to wait for Santa…may be till 2015).

My first semi-commercial* shoot was a great fun. Tanita is a big fan of Harry potter and Tomb Raider, like me. After some portraits we set on to do some ‘fun’ images that the 14 year old enjoyed the most. This is the one I liked the most.

I mostly used D80, 85mmCZ, and couple of flashes for the shoot. Couple of images were also made using medium format square camera and black and white film.

*Semi – because there was no pressure, dead-lines, or any goal as such. And I know the family for some time now, Commercial – ‘coz I earned a penny or two (actually a euro cent or two).

When I went to Kanpur the thing which saddened me the most was to see ‘cycle rickshaw’ drivers. It is a lot of hard work driving these in a city like Kanpur where temperature reaches 45C in summer (that is 113K) and humidity almost does not exist.

I was appalled to see them in Munich too. However I soon learned that many of them do it for different purposes. I asked one young girl, and she replied – I drink too much bier, eat a lot during weekdays and need to get rid of those calories. This is my ‘paying-me-gym’. Another fellow told me he does it for fun on the weekends, it is his second job and takes care of his expenses for the weekend. I’m yet to meet somebody who is doing it as his/her day job.

These two were actually planning to go for a soccer game the same evening and were happy that they had ‘gut-business’ day.

from whom I learnt the nuts-n-bolts of black and white dark-room and also studio photography. His work is oft published in German/international magazines. He also won first place at “Emscherbruch-Pokal-2007” for one of the portrait of Teju.Udo Rzadkowski

In the last few months some exciting cameras have been announced. Nikon announced D300/D3 which seems to leading the race for DSLRs. They also announced P5100, which is a nice point and shoot. Canon has always been very good with their powershot series. They corrected the mistake of not including raw format in the earlier version, Enter G9 and Viola – we got a nice point and shoot which is a very capable camera.

What it is –

A wonderful point and shoot which can capture images in raw format. The thumb-dial at the right place is one fine touch. Many people fail to see the point in it. Auto-iso selection is also great when light level is falling. Image stabilization, a nice zoom range makes it a really fine camera to use. If you add accessories from Lensmate, namely grip and the adapter for filter, makes the camera more fun to use and handling improves dramatically. Canon should stop manufacturing those cheap adapters and start working with these fellows. Overall it is a fine travel-photography-camera capable of producing fine images. It is even better for street photography. It brought the enjoyment factor back. I definitely do not want to carry a bigger camera like D80 and zoom lens every time while roaming around in the city.

What it is not –

Unfortunately the sensor size is very small for these many pixels. I thought and still think my D80 as a noisy camera (above ISO200). And boy G9 is noisier still. Even at ISO80 the noise is there to see. For web-images and prints up to certain sizes (A4) it is ok though. If anybody is trying to tell you that it is difficult to see the difference between the images from G9 and let’s say D80 (or 40D etc.) then s/he is on a payroll from Canon or has never really seen files from DSLRs. While it is a fine a camera, a replacement for a DSLR it is not.

What it could have been –

What I’m really looking forward to is a PS digital camera which is a blend of G9 and another fine camera DP1 from Sigma. I really wish canon takes a cue from Sigma and launches G10 with 4/3rd sensor (at least, or better yet an APS), get rid of all those idiot modes and keep only A,S,M. Or Sigma launches the DP2 or 3 (whatever) with a Tri-Elmar type of lens with manual controls. I don’t really care if it costs as much as mid-range DSLRs…but please.